A Chain of For-Profit Art Institutes Comes Under ScrutinyONE OF THE NATION’S fastest-growing net- works of art colleges is battling allegations that its recruiting success comes at the ex- pense of students who later find themselvesunemployed and deep in debt.

In a statement posted on the parent company’s Website, Bonnie Campbell, a spokesperson for the compa-ny’s legal counsel, called the government’s allegations“flat-out wrong.”“Federal regulations issued in 2002 permittedcompanies to consider enrollments in admission-of-ficer compensation, so long as enrollments were notthe sole factor considered,” she said, adding that otherfactors were weighed as well.“EDMC’s colleges are accredited institutions offer-ing career-focused academic degrees to its students,many of whom would not otherwise attend college,and EDMC’s combined graduation rate is better thanother schools serving similar student populations,whether those schools are public, private, or propri-etary,” she said.Two spokesmen for the Art Institutes and its parentcompany refused to provide contact information forany of the art school’s current students, but some stu-dents have been making their presence known online,for instance at www.aiostudents.com/.While most of the comments posted by students onthat and other blogs were negative, a few students didsay that they had received a solid education at the ArtInstitutes, and that it was worth the cost. (A bachelor’sdegree in graphic design can be completed online inthree years for just over $82,000 in tuition, accord-ing to a company representative who popped up ina chat window while this reporter was perusing theWeb site.)Cynthia Buckle, who received a diploma in Webdesign this year, used her skills to overhaul a portionof the Web site of Texas Tech University’s dining-ser-vices division, where she works in graphics and Webdesign.

Sarah Boger took classes at the Art Institute of Colorado, in Denver,for a career in photography, but lack of opportunities led her to a tech-supportjob instead. She now photographs bands in Austin, Tex., but only as a hobby.THE FEDERAL CASE against the Art Institutes’ parent com- pany grew out of complaints brought in 2007, one by an as-sistant director of admissions at Educa-tion Management whose main job wasrecruiting students to the Art InstituteOnline. She says she was pressured tosign up as many students as possible,regardless of whether or not they hadany chance of succeeding in the pro-gram. In 2006, an admissions directorfor the Art Institutes’ online program,Gregg Schneider, sent the recruiters ane-mail warning them that if they failedto meet their enrollment numbers, theycould be fired.“Each of you knows your plan forNovember,” states the e-mail, which isquoted in the lawsuit. “This number isnot a casual level that I want you to beat but rather a number that you must hitto have a good review, get promoted, orkeep your position here.”The company rewarded its top per-formers with all-expenses-paid trips toplaces like Las Vegas and Cancún, thelawsuit alleges.Posters charting recruiters’ progresstoward winning such prizes have linedthe walls and cubicles of the company’sheadquarters, only to be taken downduring visits by accreditors and audi-tors, the lawsuit says. After the visitors’departure, “the posters and charts areput back up.”—KATHERINE MANGAN